The appointment of Mitsuko Tottori as the next president of Japan Airlines makes her a rarity in Japan – a woman at the helm of a well-known company.
Although Japanese companies have rapidly increased the number of female board members in recent years, most of them are external members. Change from within is progressing more slowly.
Under pressure from the Japanese government, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and foreign investors, companies are seeking greater diversity, including on their boards, by hiring outside directors, often lawyers, academics and accountants.
But efforts to increase diversity are not as comprehensive as they could be, critics and governance experts say. According to a study by consulting firm ProNed of all companies listed on the TSE, 30% of female board members are represented on multiple boards, twice as many as men.
This reflects Japan’s difficulties in promoting from within – both board members and executives – after years of neglecting to cultivate a pipeline of potential female leaders, experts said.
Traditionally, many Japanese companies had rigid hiring systems in which employees were classified as either “career” or “non-career” – with the non-career employees often being the women who did administrative work.
“It’s very difficult to convince people of the value of diversity if they haven’t seen it in action,” Keiko Tashiro, director and vice president of Daiwa Securities, told Reuters in Davos earlier this month. Since 2005, Daiwa has taken steps to train new generations of female leaders.
Tashiro is one of the highest-ranking women in the Japanese financial industry, where, like many other industries, the top ranks remain overwhelmingly male.
Only 13.4% of the 1,836 companies listed on the TSE’s Prime Market have women in their board and management positions, and only 13% of them are internal employees.
“Many companies say they don’t want to promote unqualified women too quickly,” said Yuko Yasuda, director at consulting firm Board Advisors Japan. “That can be an excuse.”
There are signs of change. Yasuda says more than half of requests for board positions are directed at women and clients are increasingly looking for direct management experience.
IMPOSTER SYNDROME
However, finding women with experience is a challenge. Until now, many Japanese women have not even considered becoming managers.
“Imposter syndrome is particularly pronounced in Japan,” said a spokesman for personnel service provider Recruit Holdings.
Recruit, the owner of platforms such as job board Indeed and company review site Glassdoor, has made changing this mindset a central part of its initiatives to promote women’s careers.
“We encourage people to advance their careers by having diverse experiences early on,” the spokesperson said.
In order to give a wider range of applicants the opportunity to undertake management training, Recruit’s domestic subsidiary has created a checklist of the core competencies required for each first-level management position.
The company says this helps eliminate unconscious biases that have historically favored “macho” qualities such as the ability to work around the clock. As a result, the number of female applicants for each position increased by a factor of 1.7 and the number of male applicants increased by a factor of 1.4.
But initiatives like this take years to reach the top, leaving ambitious Japanese women with few role models to inspire and guide them.
Tottori said at a JAL news conference earlier this month that she hoped her appointment would encourage women struggling with their careers or major life events.
Unlike Tottori, current female leaders often come from privileged backgrounds or have made immense sacrifices to achieve professional success, said Etsuko Tsugihara, founder and CEO of public relations firm Sunny Side Up Group and one of only about 14 women at the top of a “first class” listed Japanese company.
“When I went to the hospital to give birth, I came straight from the office. Two weeks later I was back at work,” Tsugihara remembers. “That stopped other women from doing the same thing.”
Now, the welfare program at Tsugihara’s company promotes work-life balance for female and male employees and supports long-term life planning by subsidizing blood tests, fertility-related hormone tests and even egg freezing.
“To be a role model, you have to have a healthier, richer life,” Tsugihara said.